Season 33
Episode 6
By Jim Memmott
Corsica, France – The Amazing Race is a race, and, surprise, it helps if you’re fast (and fit.)
Case in point: After getting to first in Corsica on the basis of their win in Episode 5, Ryan Ferguson and Dusty Harris lost a ton of time stirring some cheese. See left. They were doing something wrong in regulating the temperature. It was somewhat mysterious. So just when it looked like they were out of the running, the guys started running.
The rest of the Race played to their strength and speed, and they finished a strong third in a comeback for the ages. Once again, the Race wasn't over til it was over.
The Dusty/Ryan recovery was the focal point of the Episode, and a counterbalance to the performance of Sheri and Akbar Cook, the married educators.
Akbar and Sheri Cook
Size mattered against them, as Akbar was simply too big physically for the challenge that required him to squeeze into a wetsuit and then slip and slide down a sometimes narrow waterway. Thus, he and Sheri went on to finish last, and Phil Keoghan sent them home, taking Team Baldwinsville out of this pool with them.
The couple hadn't done all that well in previous episodes, so their departure was hardly shocking. But with their departure, the Race has lost a valuable ingredient. Akbar’s constantly critiquing Sheri made him at least a minor villain, and the Race always needs villains. Of course, his bad showing also reinforced the power of karma, payback for the nagging. Karma counts on the Race.
Married YouTubers, Kim and Penn Holderness finished first on the episode. They zipped through their first challenge of loading up a mule and then walking the quite obedient animal to the cheese shop. (Aren't mules supposed to be stubborn? Does Corsica mellow them out?)
After mastering the mule, Penn took to the water challenge like a duck to, well, water.
Kim began the episode by saying she had “fundamentally changed her personality” and that now she was going to “go with the flow.” This was a little surprising, as, in earlier episodes, she had seemed quite resilient, certainly able to go with the flow.
Missed congeniality? All the race teams appear to be getting along, perhaps because they are in their own Covid bubble, flying together on chartered planes (left) and having minimal contact with the locals.
Though the seeds of a rivalry were planted by one lapse in alliance etiquette.
Flight attendant Raquel Moore and radio host and twin Lulu Gonzalez helped each other up to the point where Raquel sprinted ahead, leaving Lulu surprised and perhaps contemplating revenge.
But really, after the annoying alliances of Season 32, it’s good to see backroom deals collapse. You’re on your own, Race teams.
Footnote: Daughter-and-father duo, Natalia and Arun didn't get lost, reversing past practice.
Overheard
Kim: There’s no way we can stop Dusty and Ryan. Dusty and Ryan have to stop themselves.
Dusty: I would have to say the birds are chirping on the tree branches. And I’m going to sneak up and eat their little eggs.
Natalia: We are going to come back.
Akbar: We’re better cooks than them (looking at Dusty and Ryan).
Dusty: We’re shoving cars uphill…. This can’t get any worse.
Akbar: I’m a tall guy… size 16 shoe.
Dusty: We need the race gods to bless us.
Ryan: We just needed a shot…. I was in survival mode.
Kim: Being on this race is so far out of my comfort zone.
Dusty: We got to some physical stuff, and we knew we were going to eat some lunch.
Akbar: We ran a good race, and they were better than us.
Order of Finish
Kim and Penn
Raquel and Cayla
Ryan and Dusty
Arun and Natalia
Lulu and Lala
Akbar and Sheri
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